Panel Discusses Medicare Coverage of Alzheimer’s Treatment on NPR’s ‘Diane Rehm Show’

During the first hour of NPR's "Diane Rehm Show" on April 4, a panel discussed a new Bush administration policy stipulating that Medicare beneficiaries with Alzheimer's disease can no longer "automatically be denied" reimbursement for the cost of some treatments (Page, "Diane Rehm Show," NPR, 4/4). Previously, some Medicare carriers, companies that review Medicare claims for the federal government, had installed software in their computer systems that would automatically reject claims for beneficiaries with Alzheimer's and dementia. The new policy, which took effect in December and is based on studies that have found Alzheimer's patients can often benefit from psychotherapy, physical and occupational therapy and other services, bans the use of the software and requires carriers to use the same procedures to review claims submitted by Medicare beneficiaries with Alzheimer's that they use to evaluate other claims (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 4/2). The panel on the Diane Rehm Show included Judy Riggs, acting vice president for public policy at the Alzheimer's Association; Tom Scully, CMS administrator; and Dr. Peter Rabins, professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins. The full segment will be available online in RealPlayer Audio after the broadcast ("Diane Rehm Show," NPR, 4/4).